College bottles secret sauce for sale

The student lore on the University of Rochester campus has been that there’s a secret formula for Mel Sauce. But Antonio Pignagrande, CEC, senior executive chef with Aramark at the University of Rochester, says it’s no secret. He’s happy to share the formula, but even better, he’s found a way to bottle it.

The blend of mayonnaise, chipotle sauce, sugar, apple cider vinegar, spices and salt is now available by the glass jar for $5.99 at several campus dining locations.

Antonio Pignagrande

Photo: University of Rochester

The sauce originated in 2005 at the old Meliora restaurant on campus, an a la carte full-service spot that closed in 2013 and was repositioned as a grab-and-go venue.

“The Mel Sauce started on a signature burger, but has expanded to become a dipping sauce for fries, onion rings and chicken tenders,” Pignagrande says. “We’ve used it as a base for macaroni salad and even on pizza.”

Since the Meliora restaurant closed, Mel Sauce has appeared here and there on campus menus, but the culinary team wanted to single out the zingy sauce in a fun way that would attract attention from fans old enough to remember the 2005 version and new fans as well.

So, how does it taste?

“The best way to describe Mel Sauce is a bumped-up version of chipotle mayo,” Pignagrande says.

Dining services worked with Lanovera, a local bottler “who would work with me to get the recipe where I wanted it to be,” he says. “I didn’t want to change the integrity of the sauce from its original version. It was also important to me to stay in Rochester to make and bottle the sauce.” 

Since the campus isn’t equipped for a bottling operation like this, working with a local company makes the project fairly easy, Pignagrande says.

As a marketing tool, the sauce has been a hit, garnering attention from student publications and even sparked a satirical “Mel Sauce for President” campaign. So far, 100 cases of 12 jars have been sold. 

“We ordered 500 cases,” Pignagrande says. “I really didn’t know a magical number to produce.”

The project has been successful enough that the team is looking forward to bottling a new sauce in the summer of 2018: New York state pizza sauce.